Jan de Haan was born in the Frisian village of Warns, in the Netherlands, in 1951. He was inspired early in life by his father, who was a great lover of wind music. De Haan was attracted to conducting from an early age and, by the time he was 17, he was already leading several wind bands.
From 1969 to 1973 he studied music pedagogy and trombone at the Academy of Music in Leeuwarden and in 1976 he was awarded his conductor’s master diploma from the Conservatory of Utrecht, where he studied with Henk van Lijnschooten. Until 1994, Jan de Haan was the conductor of the well-known Dutch brass band Soli Brass. As a guest conductor, he has worked with a number of professional and amateur wind bands and ensembles. In this capacity, De Haan has travelled extensively throughout Western Europe and to the USA, Iran and Japan. Famous bands like the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, the Desford Colliery Brass Band, the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, all four Dutch military concert bands, the Frisian Orchestra, the Radio Wind Ensemble and the Dutch National Youth Fanfare Band have been conducted by him.
From 1978 to 1989, Jan de Haan worked as a conductor, composer and arranger for Dutch radio and television. As a programme maker he produced around 140 television music programmes. He also worked as a teacher at the Academy of Music in Leeuwarden for a number of years.
Alongside his activities as a guest conductor, composer and international jury member, Jan de Haan was active at De Haske Publications. He founded the music publishing company in 1983, but sold his shares in the company 25 yearslater in 2008 to be able to dedicate his time to composing, arranging and conducting.